Archive: News

Senator Pamela A. Helming (R,C,I-Canandaigua) announced Monday that a total of 17 farms in two counties within the Finger Lakes region received a combined $1.24 million for agricultural water quality conservation projects. The funding comes to the Ontario and Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation Districts through the Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program, which is funded through the New York State Environmental Protection Fund and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee.

These projects allow farmers to address water quality issues to prevent pollution, reduce erosion, and limit the amount of harmful sediments and other runoff in priority watersheds while increasing productivity and economic activity. County Soil and Water Conservation Districts apply for these grants on behalf of farmers and use the money to conduct environmental planning or implement best management practices, such as agricultural waste storage systems, riparian buffer systems, conservation cover crops, and structural soil conservation practices.

The Tompkins County Legislature's Old Library Committee passed three resolutions Wednesday that advance consideration of disposition of the County's Old Library site to the full Legislature.

The committee recommended that the site, located at Cayuga and Court Streets in the City of Ithaca, just off DeWitt Park, be declared no longer needed for public use; that the County concur with the City's determination that sale of the property for the proposed DeWitt House Project will not negatively affect the environment; and that the property be sold to preferred developer Travis-Hyde Properties' DeWitt House Associates for a sale price of $925,000.

The swim area at Myers Park is due to close August 20th.  Lansing swimmers were lucky this year, because many swim areas around Cayuga Lake closed early due to sightings of blue-green algae, a Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) that releases harmful toxins.  The Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD) issued a warning at the beginning of this month, with a plea for observers to report any sightings of HABs that could take the form of floating mats, scum, or just discolored water.

"We dodged the bullet on blue-green algae," Park Superintendent and Recreation Director Steve Colt told the Lansing Town Board Wednesday.  "Other places had it.  Our location, relative to the wind and the wave action, didn't get it.  I called the Health Department several times on suspicion.  Each call they said, 'No, thanks for calling.  You don't have it.  Carry on.'

Tompkins County Legislator Mike Sigler told the Lansing Town Board Wednesday that Lansing homeowners who live on Cayuga Lake on East Shore Drive north of the Cornell Sailing Club and south of Esty Hill want sewer.  Sigler said the topic came up while he was going door to door for his reelection campaign.  Sigler said he would be asking the Town to pay for a study.  he said he could only circulate a petition among neighbors there to gauge interest once the study determines cost of sewer in that area.

"But it's for our town.  That's 50 houses right on the water that are all Lansing residents.  The study has to come, and then I have to collect signatures on a petition to see how much interest there is down there.  I have to come to you first before I can actually see the level of support."

Tompkins County Sheriff Ken Lansing has submitted a request to the State Commission of Correction seeking a one-year continuation of a variance allowing the County to operate its jail with 18 beds more than its 82-bed permitted capacity. The request included a commitment to implement recommendations made in a 6-month study by the Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research (CGR) that recommended ways to reduce the County's jail population through alternatives to incarceration, detox and drug/alcohol rehabilitation facilities, and other improvements in the criminal justice system.

Last year, the Commission of Correction had threatened to revoke the jail variance unless the County demonstrated a good faith effort to address jail overcrowding.

Senator Pamela A. Helming (R,C,I-Canandaigua) is proud to announce that funding for special grants that she helped restore in this year's New York State budget is enabling emergency research to combat a new invasive species that is threatening our farms. Helming led the efforts to restore funding for the New York Farm Viability Institute, which funds a wide range of farmer-reviewed agricultural research projects.

The institute has now allocated emergency funding to Cornell University's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva to begin its research of an invasive species known as the allium leafminer. As the Senate Chair of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources, Helming oversees funding and matters related to groups such as the New York Farm Viability Institute and the Agricultural Experiment Station.